Letdown for Miltown

When meprobamate, best known by one of its trade names as Miltown, hit the tranquilizer market in 1955, it became a runaway bestseller because it seemed to do its work with a minimum of undesirable side effects. Now, Miltown (also marketed as Equanil) is in for a letdown. It is dropped from the U.S. Pharmacopeia new edition, which becomes effective Sept. 1.

Behind this action lies a growing disillusionment with Miltown on the part of many doctors. Some doubt that it has any more tranquilizing effect than a dummy sugar pill; others think that it is really a mild sedative that works no better than older and cheaper drugs, such as the barbiturates. A few physicians have reported that in some patients Miltown may cause a true addiction, followed by withdrawal symptoms like those of narcotics users "kicking the habit."

Miltown will still be available for doctors to prescribe as they see fit. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is contemplating no action against it. But the U.S. Pharmacopeia privately prepared by an independent committee of physicians and pharmacists, is the most prestigious of the doctor's reference books on drugs.

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